Democracy depends on free speech. But what happens when the spaces we use to speak to each other are privately owned? Should Facebook or Twitter fall under the same regulations that govern telephone networks, or should they go further?
“Nobody has yet figured out how to think about social media,” says Jameel Jaffer. That’s precisely why his work is so important. Under his leadership, the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University has emerged as an influential voice on freedom of expression in the digital age.
“One of the great things about my job is that I can actually something about the things I read about in the paper,” says the Kingston, Ontario-born Jaffer. Public policy, the structure of public discourse – these are the things I get to think about all the time.”
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